President Obama called on Congress on Tuesday to revisit gun control legislation, saying in the wake of Monday's deadly mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard that lawmakers should take what he considers "basic actions" to toughen the nation's gun laws.

"Obama's interview with Telemundo was wide-ranging, touching on the situation in Syria regarding that country's stockpile of chemical weapons and diplomatic communications with Iran, as well as immigration reform stalled in Congress and the implementation of Obama's signature health-care law."

"Iran is under a whole host of international sanctions precisely because the entire international community believes that we can't see a nuclear arms race triggered in the most volatile part of the world," Obama told Telemundo. "And there is an opportunity here for diplomacy. I hope the Iranians take advantage of it. There are indications that Rouhani, the new president, is somebody who is looking to open dialogue with the West and with the United States in a way that we haven't seen in the past. And so we should test it."

El Presidente to Telemundo:"On immigration, Obama ruled out using executive authority to freeze deportations for most of the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally, saying such a move would violate federal law.

With a comprehensive immigration reform bill stalled on Capitol Hill, advocates have called on the president to move forward without congressional approval to halt the deportations, estimated at more than 1,000 a day.

But Obama told Telemundo that such a move is “not an option." Doing so, he said, “would be ignoring the law in a way that would be very difficult to defend legally.”

The president’s decision is likely to disappoint advocates, who are beginning to lose hope of sweeping immigration legislation advancing out of Congress."

¡Sí se puede!

Obama challenged House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to bring the Senate’s comprehensive immigration plan to the floor for a vote, predicting that it would pass with bipartisan support even if the majority of the GOP caucus voted against the bill.

“He shouldn’t be afraid of majority opinion on this thing,” Obama said. “If in fact the overwhelming majority of the American people think we need to do something on immigration — we’ve got a bipartisan bill — why not go ahead and let it come to the floor of the House and let’s see what happens?”